Summary: A look at how and why we settle for less than God's best.

- Abraham had so come to accept his Plan B (having Ishmael by Sarah’s maidservant) that when God speaks of the fulfillment of His original great promise (v. 16) Abraham doesn’t grab at it at all. In fact, he simply asks that Ishmael might be the one who is blessed (v. 18).

- He privately scoffs at God’s offer even as he is worshiping.

- In v. 17, it says he fell facedown – that’s a position of worship. He knew to bow down to the presence of God. Yet even as he does that outward action, he “laughed and said to himself” that there was no way that was going to happen.

- Sometimes we go through the public motions of devotion – reading the Bible, going to church, saying “Amen” – while we privately have given up on seeing God fulfill His great promises.

- We’ve come to accept a second-best answer.

- We become content with our second-bets plans and lose sight of God’s larger vision.

- We settle.

- Often, it reaches the place where even if we are offered something better, we don’t jump at it.

- Abraham here doesn’t respond to God’s message by saying, “Really? You’re going to do that?” or “I believe that You can bring that about!” or “Let’s go!”

- Instead, He just wishes that God would bless the back-up plan that he had come up with and leave it at that.

- Abraham was 75 years old when he originally heard from God back in chapter 12. He is now 99 years old. (Verse 24 tells us that. In v. 17 is apparently just ballparking his age for the sake of effect.)

- That’s essentially a quarter-century. That is a long time to wait.

- It’s been 13 years since Ishmael was born (v. 25). That’s a long time to shift your affections from God’s original promise to the flesh-and-blood child that you already have. In one sense, it’s hard to begrudge Abraham for his affection for Ishmael. I expect the boy was the apple of his eye, but it caused him to lose sight of God’s original promise.

- There comes a point where we just want it to be over.

- There comes a point where we just want to be done.

- We’ve lost our passion and desire to see all that God originally offered. We’re just tired of waiting and want some resolution.

RAISING THE BAR: We should hold out for total fulfillment of God’s promise.